Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Twilight Sparkle couldn't be any more of a wizard if you painted the word "wizard" on her in primary colors.

She is the first pony we meet in Friendship is Magic, and at that moment she's studying a book of either prophecy or forgotten lore. She then races back to her home, which is part library, part laboratory, and part observatory, and enlists Spike, her pet baby dragon, to help her confirm a prediction that the Mare in the Moon is the dreaded Nightmare Moon. Let me repeat that: she has a dragon assistant.

My little grimoire, my little grimoire...

Twilight Sparkle is incredibly book-smart and organized to the point of obsession, but has such poor social skills that her mentor -- who also happens to be Princess Celestia, ruler of all Equestria and essentially Goddess of the Sun -- has to outright order her to make some friends. (This is essentially her first quest. We've all seen versions of the "straighten up and fly right" plot, most recently in Thor, but this is the first time I've ever seen a quest to "Loosen the heck up and get a life.")

Due to her superb organizational skills and unmatched intellect, she is not only the brains of the group but also its natural leader due to her ability to match problems to ponies with the proper skills for overcoming them. And while other unicorn ponies have some mild magical abilities relating to their raison d'être (see: cutie marks) as well as weak telekinesis, Twilight Sparkle's magical ability is for, well, magic. She uses her horn the way Harry Potter uses his wand.

I think tying Twi's bad social skills to a lack of Charisma is erroneous. She actually has rather exceptional Charisma - all the mane 6 are instantly drawn to her, in Winter Wrap-Up the Mayor immediately lets her take charge, and everyone always seems to be looking to her for solutions; she may not be as beautiful as Rarity or have the instant need to shelter and protect her as Fluttershy, but everyone instinctively turns to Twi for guidance - even, on occasion, Celestia herself.

Twi shows far more weakness in physical abilities - unable to catch herself when Luna tumbles the cliff, teleporting around instead of walking in later episodes, and often complaining about having to do physical (instead of magical) work.

Twi has bad social skills because she is completely untrained in any of them, and possibly because she has an "introvert" trait, boosting her research skills at the cost of social skills.

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